Barty Jr as the "one" faithful servant

[Carol Bainbridge]

No: HPFGUIDX 48417

I know this topic has been discussed before, the last time rather 
recently.  However, I just noticed something at the end of GoF that I don't 
remember from the last discussion.  There has been some speculation that 
Barty Jr. is the "one faithful servant" that Voldemort refers to in the 
graveyard scene in GoF.  (I think it's Bagman myself...)

I just can't see Barty Jr. as the person Voldemort is relying on.  He is 
too unstable, IMO.  The scene at the end of GoF, Crouch/Moody's face is 
described as having his face lit up with "an insane smile."  A little later 
in the same scene, Crouch/Moody is telling Harry that he (C/M) and 
Voldemort have much in common and he is described as looking "completely 
insane now."  I think he is pretty much insane and much of what he says is 
just delusional.  For instance, he thinks that Voldemort is going to reward 
him for killing Harry.  I'm not sure Voldemort would be totally happy with 
that since he clearly wants Harry for himself.   He also wants Harry to 
tell him that Voldemort told the Death Eaters that he "...alone remained 
faithful...prepared to risk everything to deliver to him the one thing he 
wanted above all..."  He later says, under the influence of the 
veritaserum, that after Bertha told Voldemort how Barty Sr. had kept Barty 
Jr. imprisoned and therefore unable to go looking for Voldemort, Voldemort 
would know that Barty Jr. "...was still his faithful servant."

I think Barty knows that he is no such thing and that he is simply 
delusional.  He asks Harry if Voldemort had forgiven the Death Eaters who 
had gone free: "Those treacherous cowards who wouldn't even brave Azkaban 
for him.  The faithless, worthless bits of filth..."  I say he's delusional 
because he himself was not really brave enough to face Azkaban.  From the 
scene in the pensieve, we know that he cried and begged his father not to 
send him to Azkaban, quite a difference from the LeStranges, who did not 
cry or beg or deny their support of Voldemort.  Barty Jr. also quite 
readily agreed to the plot to get him out of Azkaban, to switch places with 
his mother.

I think Voldemort is simply using Barty Jr. to get what he wants.  He is 
certainly not above that.  He uses Pettigrew too.  In fact, Pettigrew has 
been quite useful, making it possible for him to regain his body.  However, 
that doesn't mean that Voldemort sees Peter as a faithful servant.  He 
calls him cowardly and previously faithless.   So while I'll admit there is 
a possibility that someone other than Bagman could be the missing faithful 
servant, I'd say it most definitely is not Barty Jr.  I think JKR has Barty 
Jr. saying those things about Voldemort seeing him as such to plant the 
idea in our heads that it is Barty.  Typical misdirection.  The only thing 
we know about the missing DE is that this person has always been faithful 
and is at Hogwarts.

Carol Bainbridge
(kaityf at jorsm.com)

http://www.lcag.org